Kent State hires Paul Haynes as football coach: MAC Insider

Paul Haynes will be introduced as the new KSU coach on Tuesday.Arkansas photo

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There will be a homecoming Tuesday as Kent State sources confirmed Monday that Paul Haynes will be introduced at 2:30 p.m. in the Student Center as the next head football coach for the Golden Flashes.

Haynes, a former KSU alum, was defensive coordinator at Arkansas last season, with previous stops at Michigan State and Ohio State.

Haynes, a defensive back and former walk-on who played for coaches Dick Crum and Pete Cordelli, spent all day Monday interviewing for the job before getting the offer early in the evening. He was an assistant head coach at Kent (1999-2000) under Dean Pees and co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State (2011) under Luke Fickell, before moving to Little Rock.

The hiring ended a day with some suspense as the team and outgoing coach Darrell Hazell were practicing in Dix Stadium for the upcoming Jan. 6 GoDaddy.com Bowl. Privately, several current assistants said it was an unique situation, working under a coach who has already left for another job, while waiting to see if they will be retained by the new coach, or hired by Hazell to go to Purdue.

"I'm sure they're waiting to see who will get hired," Hazell said after practice. "That's always the case."

Now it should be known pretty soon which members of the staff are staying, and who might be leaving.

Hazell said he plans to speak with the Kent staff individually for possible openings with the Boilermakers. Hazell, who worked with Haynes at Ohio State, had nothing but praise for him.

"Paul is a good guy. I really like him. I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but he can relate well with the kids, if he does get hired. He'll bring some of the same things that we do now with him. Obviously, he's an alum. He's a really good guy."

Following the autograph session, fans will be directed to the corner of Erie and Water streets for a flag-changing ceremony to take place at Ametek, which will change out the international flags atop its building and fly Kent State flags for the bowl game.

Immediately following the flag ceremony, fans are invited to Water Street Tavern for the "Portage Community Bank -- Bowl Preview Show." Free posters will be distributed to fans.

Broncos hire coach: Western Michigan hired 32-year-old Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistantP.J. Fleck, making him the youngest coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision, according to the Associated Press.

Fleck worked for Bucs coach Greg Schiano the past three years. Fleck was the receivers coach at Rutgers before following Schiano to Tampa Bay this season to do the same job.

Fleck played receiver for Northern Illinois from 1999-2003 and spent two seasons in the NFL with San Francisco before starting his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Ohio State under Jim Tressel in 2006.

He surpasses Matt Campbell, 33,of Toledo as the youngest head coach in the FBS.

More to come: Toledo did not get the MAC off to a good start to the bowl season, falling to Utah State, 41-15, in Saturday's Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise. But there are six more opportunities remaining.